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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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English
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paulgriffinstories.com

WHEN FRIENDSHIP FOLLOWED ME HOME

Paul Griffin

A breathtaking middle-grade novel about happiness, loss, and an unforgettable dog named Flip.
Ben Coffin has never been one for making friends. As a former foster kid, he knows people can up and leave without so much as a goodbye. Ben prefers to spend his time with the characters in his favorite sci-fi books…until he rescues an abandoned mutt from the alley next-door to the Coney Island Library.
Scruffy little Flip leads Ben to befriend a fellow book-lover named Halley—yes, like the comet—a girl unlike anyone he has ever met. Ben begins thinking of her as “Rainbow Girl” because of her crazy-colored clothes and her laugh, pure magic, the kind that makes you smile away the stormiest day.
Rainbow Girl convinces Ben to write a novel with her. But as their story unfolds Ben’s life begins to unravel, and Ben must discover for himself the truth about friendship and the meaning of home.

Paul Griffin’s breathtaking middle-grade debut will warm your heart as much as it breaks it.

Paul wrote several young adult novels, Ten Mile River, The Orange Houses, Stay With Me, Burning Blue and Adrift. When Friendship Followed Me Home, a novel for middle grade readers, comes out June 2016. Marty, another MG novel, comes out in 2017. Paul lives in New York City with several crazy dogs (often featured in his stories) and one very patient wife, Risa Morimoto, who also happens to be his favorite moviemaker. paulgriffinstories.com
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Book

Published 2016-06-07 by Dial Books

Book

Published 2016-06-07 by Dial Books

Comments

A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice A People magazine Popular Pick A Summer 2016 Kids' Indie Next Pick A Publishers Weekly Best of Summer Pick

As funny and heartwarming as it is gut-punching...thoroughly engaging.

Griffin handles hard topics with penetrating insight and honesty, while balancing painful moments (and there are many) with levity.

Chinese (Complex): Rye Field Publications ; Chinese (Simplified): ThinKingdom Media ; UK: Text Publishing ; French: Bayard Editions ; Hungarian: Mano Konyvek ; Italian: Rizzoli Libri ; Japanese: Wave Shuppan ; Portuguese: Editiorial Presenca ; Spanish: Editorial del Nuevo Extremo; Turkish: Altin Kitaplar Yaynevi

Friendship is an absolutely beautiful, heart-expanding book. I cried, but more than that I felt this giant balloon of love for everyone. This story convinced me all over again that love and imagination are life's biggest magic. It'll make you want to grab hold of everyone important to you and lick them on the nose.

Although this middle grade book covers some tough topics...it never loses hope.

Entrancing, magical, tragic, and uplifting.

The dialogue between Ben and Halley is snappy and smart (think John Green for middle-graders), and the sci-fi story the two friends write together reveals the emotions behind their wit.

[T]his bittersweet, well-paced book...left me with faith that people can feel discarded, as though everything they love will be taken from them, and still end up whole, if they are touched by love of friendship.